Customer Reviews

The Tao Of Poker: 285 Rules to Transform Your Game and Your Life

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have read over a dozen books on poker which include those written by Sklansky, Ciaffone, Hellmuth, and Mike Caro, yet I found this book to be the best one in dealing with my emotional turmoil in the game of poker. If you want to read a book that deals with the finer skills of poker then I highly recommend one of Sklansky's books or Middle Limit Poker by Bob Ciaffone is excellent as well.

If you are an emotional player, one who doesn't take bad beats that easily and one who will go "on tilt" quite often then I HIGHLY recommend this book because it will teach you to control your emotions and to look at the game in a different light. Since reading this book my game has improved because my discipline and patience is at all new level to compliment my skills.

Overall, the book is an easy read(slightly longwinded), but should be reread if you feel that you are regressing back to your old ways. Hope this helps.

Good luck and skill.

I first heard of this book because it was quoted several times in an option trading book I was reading. The quotes focused on relating the skills of patience and game management to trading and they were very relevant and I thought quite insightful. Since I am also a big fan of poker I decided to purchase the book and read more. I was very pleased with my purchase.

The book discusses the philosophy and approach to bluffing, reading your opponents, managing your game, having discipline, managing your chips, playing your good and badhands, dealing with losing, how to develop strategies, etc... and I really enjoyed it. Although I play a lot of poker, the book pointed out so many wonderful ideas and philosophical appraoches I never thought of, it made me appreciate the game on a whole new level.

The rules are broken into different chapters and categories which are easy to follow. Although the rules become repetitive at times, it is better for reinforcement. Some interesting tidbits from the book include:

- ways to read your opponents and also disguise your own reactions
- the science and philosophy of bluffing
- how to play against experienced and bad players
- the art of patience
- learning when to fold and not play a hand
- how to better manage your chips so you do not end up giving all your winnings back to the pot
- dealing with fatigue or tiredness

This is not a specific strategy pick that says play this when your cards are that. It is the philosophy of the game. Once you learn the rules, it is time to learn the theory and this book is a great guide. I highly recommend that any poker player read this book in order to improve their skills in playing. The author says that poker is 90% luck and 10% skill and therefore you need to work on the 10% to distinguish yourself. The goal is not to teach you how to become rich playing poker. The author is very clear that this is not a how to make money book. It preaches enjoyment of the game. If you have the patience to adhere to the rules then over the long haul you cna make some money if you play in regular high stakes games but no promises are made here. Just a thoughtful treatise on strategy and ideals.

The book's information is also very transferable to other aspectsin life. The skills and mindset needed for succeeding in poker are no different than those needed to succeed in life Therefore, if you love poker but also like learning about yourself and ways to improve yourself, you get both with this book. I can apply a lot of the rules to my trading and therefore find the information universal.

I was vaguely aware of Larry Phillips and his "Tao" and "Zen" of poker before I decided to purchase them both a couple of weeks ago. As the reader probably knows, Steve Dannenman was carrying Tao around with him during the World Series this year. I will admit that this one isn't going to allow you to finish second out of a crowd of 5,000, but it is chock full of common sense which is exactly what one wants from an instructional guide. Phillips is no cardroom flunky, he is an erudite student who knows a little bit about everything; a renaissance man offering intimate insight on poker and human nature. I must say that several of the rules he offers are not consistent with conventional wisdom, but I agree with Phillips over the others. The notion that hot and cold streaks are the imagination of the individual player is often accepted, but Tao convincingly argues otherwise. Bad luck can last a few weeks no matter how many times you switch seats or tables. An example of his valuable perspective is evident in Rule 166 or the 75% rule. All he recommends here is that you book a win once you give back 25% of it. Those words are very wise and very accurate as greed is the death of every entrepreneur (which is the most charitable way of describing those of us joined at the felt to this glorious game). Phillips is a firm believer that emotions and the mental state of the player are a key variable in terms of who comes out a winner or a loser. Just about everything here is quietly valuable. Few of the things he says will make you exclaim "Wow!" but nearly all of them will make you a sounder player.

"The Tao of Poker" will transform and mold your thoughts on poker like Sun Tzu's The Art of War does for generals. This is not to say that the author provides concrete X's & O's strategies for winning, but rather illustrates the proper mindset to approach the game. Concepts like mentally focusing, planning, and how to manage your bankroll are introduced. For instance, after big wins in Texas Hold Em tournaments, I often "recycled" my money into higher money games, generally losing it. One of Phillips suggestions is to pocket a certain percentage of any big win, take a walk and come back refreshed. While I think most of the precepts in the book are just common sense to any moderate skill player, the book also advocates a certain philosophy to playing the game of poker, one that is useful from the novice to pro player.

If it was a 10 point system, I'd put it smack in the middle at a 5. Can't give it a 3 b/c it doesn't tip the scales past the middle point. While I certainly did gain from this book, I was left a little disappointed overall, mainly because it really didn't accomplish what it claimed it would, and I feel it's an insult to the title. Taoism is about enlightenment and the right path. This book claims it will transform your life, etc., and falls way short.

I was really hoping the book would give some kind of deeper insight into the nature of poker and intertwine it with life, but it really didn't. I was probably expecting too much, but geez the outside cover led me to believe it would!! As someone else pointed out, it's actually quite negative in a lot of ways, and has TOO MUCH emphasis on bad beats and cold streaks. So much so that it literally instilled a slight fear in me, fearing that I'd encounter the deep, dark depths that he talks about in this book. It was almost as if it had more negative re-enforcement than positive, which is not good. Maybe this is just my take though? It actually made me wonder about the author and his "credentials" (he has NONE, his major accomplishment in the world of poker is that he's a frequent player on the tournament circuit!!), and made me wonder how much of a winner he actually is.

I also wondered why a book that was supposed to be about the Tao of poker had about 1/5 of it dedicated to body language and tells?

On the plus side, it did help to re-enforce some thoughts about the nature of the game, and broaden my view somewhat. It gave some perspective on remaining humble, managing your chips, dealing with losing to inferior players, and some general concepts that have helped my overall view of the game. I appreciate the internet effort, it's nothing groundbreaking, but it's farily useful for some general tips.

In summation, for the price it's a good edition to your collection, and should add something to your game. It is repetitive and there's A LOT OF FLUFF in this book, but I recommend it for a quick read. Just don't get your hopes up too much like I did, I suspect you'll be let down.

I would have read quite a number of books on the game, but this one surpasses them all by a distance. Almost every topic is (briefly) covered in beautifully succinct and user friendly prose.

However, this book is not for the player who wants great technical detail on every poker issue - rather than a general view of your own shortcomings or potential weaknesses in your game.

I read these books to help me with my game and this is the master pep talk. I came away from this book with a better game - and that is to my mind, GREAT value for money.

If you are trying to improve your game or a veteran needing a lift, this is the book for you - light enough to be read anywhere. RAISE!

I am not a Zen kind of guy and was avoiding this book for that reason alone. I bought it based on the recommendation of another player that I met at a tournament, and am glad I did! Chock full of common sense advice that would take you a lifetime of playing to gain (if then). To my relief it is not some sort of "touchy feely," liberal nonsense book, but real poker wisdom, offered in a enjoyable format.

I read the book from front to back, and I was originally very excited about adding this book to my collection of poker books. But as I kept reading, the book seemed to be going on, and on, and on about various bad beat stories (maybe this is a third of the entire book). This wasn't very helpful, nor very positive. It seems that the author ran out of rules to think of (285 listed on the cover) at about half way through the book and started writing about whatever filled his head; this is where the book begins to faulter. What I did like about the book was that it had some internet situations that do occur. For the inexperienced player, this book is probably a good buy at less than $10.

I've had this book for 7 years now, and it remains one of my favorite poker books. No, it doesn't go into detailed strategy of how to play hold'em or omaha, but when I was starting out as a poker player, I often found I got involved in too many hands and played them too aggressively. This book gives you a basis of how to think while playing poker. It's more for beginners than advanced players, but even as someone who has been playing for years, I like to read it again every once in a while to get my game back to what it should be.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read for Futures Traders! There are many similarities between poker and trading and this book is filled with short, potent bits of sage advice. I put this on my top 5 books for trading.